La Digue

Introducing La Digue

Ah, La Digue. Remember that tropical paradise that appears in countless adverts and glossy travel brochures? Here it’s the real thing, with jade-green waters, lovely bays studded with heart-palpitatingly gorgeous beaches, and green hills cloaked with tangled jungle and tall trees. The coup de grâce (though a bit overhyped for some tastes) is Anse Source d’Argent on the west coast, with its picture-perfect, sea-smoothed glacis rocks. As if that wasn’t enough, La Digue is ideally situated as a springboard to surrounding islands, including Félicité, Grande Sœur and the fairy-tale Île Cocos.

Despite its lush beauty, La Digue has managed to escape the somewhat rampant tourist development that affects Mahé and Praslin, and there’s only one settlement on the island, La Passe. Sure, it’s certainly not undiscovered, and the recent small casino has brought some protest from locals anxious to preserve the island’s traditional way of life. But La Digue has a more laid-back feel than the other main islands, with only one surfaced road and virtually no cars, just the odd ox cart. Time moves at a crawl, the atmosphere is chilled out to the max, and the place is definitely more a back-to-nature than a jet-set-tourist kind of haven, making it possible to find a deserted anse (bay) to commune with your quest for inner peace.

Transport to La Digue is absurdly easy. It’s only about 5km from Praslin, and getting by boat from one island to the other is simplicity itself, so you’ve no excuse not to spend a day or two at the very least on this island.

If money’s any object, La Digue has a growing number of quaint family guesthouses and self-catering apartments in which to rest your head. While hardly glitzy, they usually boast loads of gracious charm.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009